What Are You Trusting In?

As everyone at Christian Life knows the Larson family is making a transition. We are preparing to move to Hattiesburg, MS and plant a church in 2013. We aren’t real sure of the time frame right now as we are continuing to serve here at Christian Life and still have lot’s we need to accomplish here before we transition out.

We are pretty sure about this though… we desire to launch no later than the Fall of 2013, which means we need to be in Hattiesburg no later than the Spring of 2013. A lot of things will have to happen between now and then. I will not bore you with those details BUT I do want to share some things the Lord has been pressing into my heart.

Ginger and I will be, have been, and are faced with a question, this is not just relevant to our transition but we all face this… “What are you trusting in?”

There are three things we tend to put our trust in…

1.  Might – power

We have all heard the term, “Might makes right.” People put their trust in power because with enough of it “I can do what I want, when I want, how I want, where I want”. We don’t like to depend on others and if someone gets in the way… well, you get the idea. With power YOU are the 800 pound gorilla.

In today’s economy power is driven by money, money makes things go! With enough money you can take care of almost any situation. Money means power; power is might, and might makes you right!

Paul said the “love of money” is the root of all kinds of evil. With money we are not dependant on anyone else, don’t have to be submitted to anyone else, can rule over others because we have what they want, money. With enough money we won’t have to put our trust in anyone else ever again. We trust the money and the power it brings so we always want more of what we trust in.

Ecclesiastes 5:10 (NIV84)

Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.

If we trust in the power money brings us money will be the measuring stick we use to judge everyone and everything. Money will become our master and we its slave.

God has been drilling into me, “Don’t put your trust in the money” but it is an easy trap to fall into. When you need about $110,000 to plant a church it is hard! Yes, money and what it can buy is needed but it is not where we are to place our trust.

2.  Material – things

We feel secure with programs, habits, and stuff.

If we get into the right program it will tell us what to do and help us, we will be fine if we follow it. If we just fashion for ourselves the right habit, system, or plan of action and execute it we will succeed. If I just had the right golf club, right smart phone, right car, right house, etc. etc.

We all get caught up in it. Even with the church plant and at Christian Life… if we get the right sound system, HD camera, building, location, pastor, director, drum set (they have to be live!), program or church plant organization…

We put our trust in the things we can touch, see, hear, understand… stuff! We keep gathering it to us because we believe that next thing will give us the security or success we desire.

Think about it, “The only difference between men and boys is the size and cost of their toys.” And, “You know that we are living in a material world and I am a material girl.” Though we may not say it, we live it.

Matthew 6 and James 5 say that all of this stuff will rot and become worthless. Do not trust in stuff it is not worthy of it and ultimately it will fail you.

3.  Moniker – influence

We have all experienced it… we got beat out or missed on a job, money, or some thing because “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”.

We put our trust in a name, position, or person. The influence they or we have built up. We look to man to solve our problems or get what we need. If we can just make the right connection…

How important is it to a church to have an influential “mover and shaker” from the community or a wealthy member? We start treating some as more important (James 2:1-4) because of what we think they can do for us.

Isaiah 2:22 (NCV)

You should stop trusting in people to save you, because people are only human; they aren’t able to help you.

We ARE to trust people but they ARE NOT the one “in whom we trust”.

 

It boils down to this… in what will you put YOUR trust? I know where I will be fighting to place mine.

Psalm 20:7 (NIV)

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.